Soccer

Legendary Benfica striker Eusebio dies at 71

Legendary Portugal striker Eusebio died Sunday at the age of 71. He’d been hospitalized several times in the last year with heart and respiratory issues, before finally passing away from cardiac arrest.

The so-called Black Panther – who essentially ended his career playing stateside in New Jersey – was one of the top soccer players in history, and arguably the best European player of all-time. Eusebio was the top goal-scorer in the 1966 World Cup, his nine tallies lifting Portugal to a third-place finish.

Eusebio – born in Mozambique – moved to Portugal and starred for Benfica, winning the 1962 European Cup and the European Footballer of the Year award three years later. He scored a mind-bending 733 goals in 745 professional games.

He played for three teams in the old NASL from 1975 to 1977, the Boston Minutemen, Toronto Metros-Croatia and Las Vegas Quicksilvers. He scored the winning goal in Toronto’s 3-0 victory in the 1976 Soccer Bowl; and after his knees started to go, he played for the New Brunswick-based New Jersey Americans of the second-tier American Soccer League in 1978-79.

Eusebio was tabbed the 9th best player of the 20th century by the IFFHS (International Federation of Football History & Statistics) and the 10th best by World Soccer magazine. For perspective, Pele was No. 1 and Franz Beckenbauer No. 4, with Lothar Matthaus No. 31. The former pair played for the New York Cosmos, the latter for the MetroStars.